Personal blog
Below you see some posts from my personal blog over at Posterous (a service I can’t recommend enough, by the way). They’re not as well-considered as the ones here, sometimes downright ill-informed – the lighter side, so to speak. I hope you’ll enjoy them nonetheless.
Bye bye Netbooks (fingers crossed)
Incredibly, I missed it – but Crunchgear did a good piece on the woeful misery that is a Netbook last year. Won't ever say 'I told you so', but now that Netbook sales seem to be taking a dive, I need to emphasise that I did.
There will always be a market for crappy things that are cheap - just because they're cheap. But hopefully we'll have the heyday of these ergonomical nightmares behing us soon.
The pros and cons of Google Street View (Alert: in German)
Google Street View seems to have provoked some discussion in Germany of the most tiring kind. The discussion below are a good example of how technophobes can be rule by sheer paranoia:
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X:
Ich finde es erstaunlich, wie beim Thema “Street View” ein Teil der Netzgemeinde der Allgemeinheit ihre Meinung aufzuzwingen versucht. Warum kann man nicht einfach den Wunsch vieler respektieren, irgendetwas nicht veröffentlichen zu wollen? Völlig unabhängig von der rechtlichen Lage, einfach mal so als Zeichen des sozialen Miteinanders? Ist das sowas wie das “Outen” Homosexueller damals, zu deren eigenen Besten auch gegen deren Willen, ist ja schließlich nichts dabei? Und als Rechtfertigung dient dann der Schwule von nebenan, der sich zwar nicht outen wollte, dann aber wild knutschend beim CSD fotografiert wurde? Freiwillige Veröffentlichung bedeutet, daß man zukünftig nicht mehr selbst entscheiden darf, was man zeigt – und vielleicht sogar wo? Ich bin etwas fassungslos, wie weit man mittlerweile zu gehen bereit ist, um die eigene Meinung durchzusetzen.Y:X (59): Dir ist schon klar dass man Dein Argument recht gut umdrehen kann? Warum wollen Teile der Allgemeinheit anderen Teile der Gemeinheit ein grosse Chance nehmen ihr Leben (und indirekt sogar das derer die ihnen dies verwehren wollen) einfacher, besser und sicherer zu machen? Warum koennen die Bedenkentraeger nicht die Chancen sehen die die neue Technologie vielen Menschen bietet und wie sie das Leben besser, sicherer und einfacher machen? Einfach mal ein paar Beispiele: Wenn ich zum ersten Mal in eine neue Gegend fahre kann ich mich per Streetview mit dem Strassenverlauf bekannt machen. Ich weiss dann wie die Kreuzungen aussehen bei denen ich abbiegen muss, ich weiss wie es an der Stelle aussieht wo ich hinwill (z.B. ein bestimmtes Geschaeft). Das heisst ich kann mich viel besser auf die Strasse konzentrieren weil ich nicht so sehr auf die SatNav hoeren muss. Ich muss nicht den Verkehr aufhalten weil ich nach etwas Ausschau halten muss weil ich viel leichter die Gegend erkennen kann und daher weiss wie weit ich bin (“ah, da ist die Tankstelle, irgendwo gleich dahinter ist das Geschaeft zu dem ich will”). Leute die aus was fuer Gruenden auch immer nicht mehr persoenlich reisen koennen oder wollen, koennen die virtuell tun, sie koennen eine virtuelle Rundfahrt machen. Vielleicht aeltere Leute die nicht mehr in der Lage sind zu den Orten ihrer Kindheit zu reisen, die koennten am Computer einen Rundgang in der Strasse machen in der sie aufgewachsen sind (“oh, guck mal, der Baum bei Meiers, da sind wir als Kinder drin geklettert, der steht immer noch”). So etwas willst Du den Leuten verwehren? Aus dem Egoismus “das ist ja schliesslich mein Haus”? Ich bin fassungslos wie egoistisch manche Leute sind die einfach nicht die Chancen sehen wollen und nur an sich selbst denken.
Strangest album cover?
A highlight from the classical LP/CD cover hall of shame at Unsungcomposers.com.
And believe me, there are stranger ones... (read more)Sunset in Lisboa, Portugal
Moon over the National Pantheon in Lisboa, Portugal
Lonely crow
Checking out... for now.
Most of you who may have dwelled here may have noticed that things got a bit quiet of late - and you're right. The trouble is that at the moment, next to a rather engrossing job, I am working on a book that may (or may not) turn out to be my Ph.D. thesis. Since I worked on my previous thesis without much progress for about six years, I've decided to put my other activities on hold for the moment in order to give this effort a half-decent chance. I may post occasional things here, but it will be irregular at best. Hopefully, I'll pick things up in a year and a half or so, when (and IF) I finished the book.Â
The only other thing I plan to keep up is my Archaeopteryx blog. This has been sadly lacking in new content of late, but there will be new articles every other fortnight or so, and I'll keep you updated on the progress of my book. Of course, if anyone needs to reach me by e-mail, you know where to find me.
(read more)Be prepared!
From the site of the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh.
(read more)Greetings from Budapest, Serbia
OK, my brain has begun to rot just about an hour and a half ago. Actually, coincidentally, while I started watching the film 'Sniper 2' – which, I know, I shouldn't but I did anyway. This is the most cynical, disinterested piece of film making it has been my misfortune to watch in a long, long time. And remember, this is from someone who, quite innocently, managed to stay sane amidst 'The Story of Us', 'Manos, the Hands of Fate' and 'Space Mutiny'.
The facts. 'Sniper 2' revolves around two, you guessed it, snipers sent into Serbia to pop off some bigwig. Really, it's not important and neither is the film itself: it's the usual post-'Black Hawk Down' orgy of green and grey with Tom Berenger (one of the snipers and clearly unable to get better parts) looking stern but not particularly intelligent throughout. The other sniper is a black death row convict. Yes, you guessed it. The US armed forces are proud to have a convicted felon on a crucial mission. Moreover, it has apparently occurred to no one that a black man in Serbia sticks out like a giraffe in an underground cart. Well, not to the Serbians anyway, who appear to have left all the ethnic cleansing behind them and have developed into the least racist people in the world. But wait, this is very odd Serbian these people speak. Not that slavic, actually. Sort of Hungarian-ish. And come to think of it, since when did Belgrade come to look so much like Bucharest or PĂ©cs? To the average watcher, any East European town will look like the next. But if they were, we wouldn't be where we are in the Balkans, would we? I hardly need to explain you that although being neighbours, there are some differences between Serbia and Hungary. And the way in which this production doesn't care is too cynical to believe. Fortunately, this ignorance pervades a aspects of a waste of celluloid that makes you long for Steven Seagal's latest. 'Sniper' Berenger misidentifies his rifle, even though it's written on the friggin' thing(!!!!), several Skodas, Wartburgs and Ladas explode with an energy they never possessed in reality and the prison torture scene peters out into a gentle kip after just two questions. Needless to say, I rather enjoyed it. (read more)Chrome being quicker than a potato
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Evolution takes a step back...
From the great Hein de Kort's site.
(read more)iPhone vs. Android
Walking home (Berlin)
A Teutonic Welcome
Taken with the aid of Hipstamatic at the Westhafen, Berlin.
(read more)Let's get round again!
This advert was published in the Frankfurter Zeitung, a leading German national newspaper, in May of 1908. It offers a product that guarantees women to put on weight and achieve a 'wonderful bust and beautiful, full body figure'. Quite the difference from the current plethora of poisonous slimming pills, and somehow very comforting.
(read more)My kind of machine! (or, cleaning up the office sheds its rewards...)
Tiltshift view from the office...
New York: a Tilthift motion picture
The Sandpit from Sam O'Hare on Vimeo.
Created by Sam O'Hare from more photographs that you'd like to think about. Hattip: NRC Next.
Marieke reading
Made with the fantastic Hipstamatic
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(read more)Want to buy a classic? Why not a new one, then?
Always wanted that classic car, but you were afraid that the maintenance costs might ruin you? Despair no longer, because there are ample opportunities to buy a brand new classic car! Something made this decade but with road safety and handling features well over forty years old! Allow me to present four examples here.
1. The Lada 2105/2107 (Riva). Price: from 4050 Euros
(See picture above) This piece of Russian engineering started life as a Fiat 124 in 1966. And in that guise, it was actually quite a sporty little number. Particularly the 1.6L top model (equipped with a five-speed gearbox) was a remarkable, fast but also very durable car that seemed almost accidentally resistant to rust.
Of course, everything changed when the Russian outfit VAZ started to build it in a licensed version at their plant in Togliatti (named after an Italian communist party leader), and marketed it as the Lada (or VAZ-2101). The first models were optically nearly indistinguishable from their Italian ancestor, but smaller and less powerful engines, diminutive brakes and ill-tempered gear boxes made that it behaved decidedly different.
Its successor, the Lada 2105/2107 (in European markets; Riva in the UK market) introduced few innovations, although the 1990s brought fuel injection. But despite its lack of mechanical sophistication, the Ladas proved to be dependable workhorses (if rather prone to rusting) and became beloved cars in their home country. When their intended successor, the all-new Samara, was introduced next to it in the mid-1980s, the Siberian habit of warming the Ladas' engines up with small fires wreaked predictable havoc with the Samara's plastic engine components. As a consequence of its incredible endurance, the 2105/2107 series is still being produced and sold in Russia. If anything, production is being extended: a factory in Egypt was opened a few years ago, with a second plant opening later in 2010.
2. The Peugeot 504. Price: around 14000 Euros
True, it's not being made any longer. But you can still get yourself a brand new one, provided you want to pick it up in Kenya or Nigeria. Compared to the Lada it is the very symbol of sophistication, but we're still talking about something introduced in 1968. In 1983, production stopped in Europe, but licensed versions were being made in such markets as Argentina, Nigeria, and Kenya up to 2006. Outwardly, little changed during that time, but the interior and the power plant was overhauled a number of times (particularly in the Argentinean version) and the last versions were in fact not so much worse than contemporaneous cars to drive.
3. The Hindustan Ambassador. Price: 10500 Euros
The Ambassador, or 'Amby' as it's affectionally called in India, was a fair bit older than either the Lada or the Peugeot. It's based on the 1956 Morris Oxford III, which, in all honesty, wasn't a great car to begin with. The Amby really motorised a nation, and one of the biggest nations in the world. It fulfilled every conceivable role, from taxi to government limousine, and remained virtually unaltered in all those years, apart from minor cosmetic changes. It's being imported by a firm in Wales and at just over 10,000 euros, it's your best chance to revive the motoring fifties.
4. The Iran Khodro Paykan. Price: 6600 Euros
Reviving anything will not be easy in the Paykan. In fact, staying alive at all may be quite a feat. Made in the country with the world's highest traffic fatality rate, Iran, the Paykan was for years the only means of individual (or collective transport). Like with the Amby, its origins lie in British car manufacture; the 1967 Hillman Hunter, to be precise. The Hunter was not in any way a remarkable car, but it was quite successful sales-wise. Moreover, it was spread among various brands (Hillman, Chrysler, Sunbeam) and markets (UK, Europe, US, New Zealand, Australia). However, nowhere did it become more important than in Iran. To be sure, it was an atrocious heap: unsafe, dirty and with a fuel consumption so impressive that even oil-selling Iran paid its manufacurer to end production in 2005. However, that did not rid us of the Paykan. Production continues in Khartoum in Sudan, and those who crave to drive something that will never achieve more than 15 mpg may still realise their dream.
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